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Share Your World (SYW)

I thought it might be nice, for a change, to blog about me, assuming I’m nice, which of course is a big assumption. So, in the absence of protests to the contrary, here goes with Cee’s weekly Share Your World (SYW) challenge, with an ultimately far-out flavor to it . . .

Do you prefer ketchup or mustard? Um, I have a near-addiction to light agave syrup, as well as the myriad of spices used in Indian, Greek, and Middle-Eastern foods. That said, it depends on what’s being eaten, as to what needs to be covered. I still remember — and am wholly guilty of the food crime mentioned in — that childhood ditty “don’t drown your food.”

If someone made a movie of your life would it be a drama, a comedy, a romantic-comedy, action film, or science fiction? Yes. At one time or another, all of the aforementioned, with documentary, spoof, fantasy, horror flick, B-movie, and musical thrown in for good measure.

If you could be given any gift what would it be? A tough one! Can I wiggle out of it and say je ne sais quoi? No? Okay, then: Foresight, which would likely turn out to be a Trojan horse. Failing that, a supply of self-confidence to not be unwarrantedly cocky yet to still leave the world a better place than when I entered it.

For potlucks or parties do you cook it yourself, buy from a grocery store, or pay for catering? I’ve never given a big or formal party myself, so I’ve never done catering (in the event I could afford it!). Sorry to qualify all these questions, but it really depends on the context. The better I know the people and their preferences and/or allergies or food adventuresomeness, probably the more likely I am to make something of my own rather than grocery-store it. I have a great Indian-inspired spaghetti bread I’m dying to perfect and share with the world, but more accessible dishes are my sausage-stuffing muffins (for those who AREN’T watching their diets, who do have a “cheat day,” and/or who are NOT vegans or vegetarians) or my Greek-based orzo & spinach salad.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? I know I used this in a previous SYW, so it’s an oldie, but it’s also a good goodie. I’m grateful to still be experiencing life, warts and all. I’ve been doing some writing, but on the main it’s been pretty angry stuff (for reasons I won’t bore you with, August is overall a historically cruddy month for me personally); this creative famine follows on the heels — wish I could say heals, Freudian key-slip style — of the feast of a couple weeks ago when I had three or more posts in a single week. Today’s SYW post floats and then gently sets me down at 61. Poet extraordinaire Vic Briggs nomenclatures this ebb-and-flow creative process in terms of “the storm passes, the energy . . . recedes.” (Well-said, my friend!) Honestly, as to looking forward, there are several things in the aether I’m grabbing at: visiting with my friend, who herself is journeying into town from Arizona; writing a joy list, à la Chris Donner’s fabulous open-ended post on “Joy Is . . .”; exiting the draggin’ wagon in terms of blog- and other reading and commenting (like for my BBC Book Club); school starting for one of the kidlets (I love the “youngins,” but I also know they need time away from me to gain independence and so forth); catching up on some weeding and yardwork; doing some un-angry writing; and tackling some technical things like setting up a Facebook page and re-doing or adding a page here on the blog to purtify it. 🙂

Image by me — & Photoshopped, unexpertly, to sharpen, bring out contrast, & brighten — of the Aug. 10, 2014, #supermoon. Really wish I were a better photographer & had better night exposure ability. Dumbly, I also didn’t use a tripod, other than my knees. The exposure is about 5 seconds. Had hoped you could see how the moon looks (to me, anyway) like a dragon’s eye & all the altocumulus clouds (I’m guessing, but please correct me, meteorologists) looked like individual scales around the dragon’s eye. Anyway, it was cool to see an astronomical phenomenon like the supermoon, & I am grateful for that. For more on the supermoon (thank goodness it’s not dubbed the perigean moon supersized, for acronymization!), EarthSky is one great resource.

If you could make a 15-second speech to the entire world, what would you say?

As much as possible, be kind to animals, including the human kind, and the planet. Keep your mind and body moving. Laugh & smile liberally. And finally, love unveils strength, not weakness. Embrace it.

If you could take a photograph, paint a picture or write a story of any place in the world, what and where would it be?

Although I am a writer at heart and, as such, I love plotting and planning, daydreaming and nightdreaming, I immediately discarded writing and painting for photography (painting is fun; no umbrage meant!). I felt that photographing a place would be a more visceral, significant experience of the place with the literal equipment that I have as well as the mental and emotional machinery. Ah, but so many places vied for attention. First, Heaven/Paradise/Valhalla/the Afterlife. If I could photograph that, presuming it really exists, and yet come back to Earth afterward for at least a few more years . . . eureka! That would be cool. Failing that and if I weren’t chicken, how ’bout these: Jupiter, Middle Earth, Narnia, Xanth, China, India (okay, all of Asia), Machu Picchu, Alaska, Scotland, and Yellowstone.

If you had to spend one weekend alone in a single store but could remove nothing, which store would you pick?

Reading my fellow introverts’ much-better answers here makes me feel either really unpragmatic or terribly survivalist, because I didn’t plan anything for food the entire weekend. D’Oh! Here are my thoughts. If I were looking at the “busy/active factor,” I would go for a running, camping, biking, art/crafting, antiques, or toy store. If I were more introspective, I would gravitate to the local bookstore (which is in an older two-level home) or any other bookstore or library, an art museum or gallery, or a store in a museum or zoo.

If you were given a boat or yacht today, what would you name it? (You can always sell the yacht later)

I would call it (the) Raymond Luxury-Yacht, but it would have to be pronounced Throatwobbler Mangrove. 🙂

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Ah, so many things to be grateful for. My family’s love and patience buttresses it all. Specifics? I’m glad we’ve had a cold/allergies because it’s a signal we’re alive and kicking; it could have been much worse; and I think it makes us more aware and appreciative of good-health moments.

Looking forward to: Smiling and laughing, Kid #1’s graduation/carnival; not having a cold anymore; gardening and, I hope, seeing some new life sprouting; running; reading and writing; and spending time with the family.